Patterning mechanism for circular knitting machines

ABSTRACT

A rocking jack pattern mechanism for a circular knitting machine in which corresponding pairs of selector jacks and intermediate jacks cooperate in controlling selection of needles to perform knitting operations and in which cancellation of selection of corresponding pairs of selector and intermediate jacks occurs during the performance of knitting operations by the corresponding needles and selection of corresponding pairs of selector and intermediate jacks occurs prior to initiation of the next subsequent knitting operation to be performed by the corresponding needles.

United States Patent 191 Guell PATTERNING MECHANISM FOR CIRCULARKNITTING MACHINES [75] Inventor: Jose Maria Dalmau Guell, Badalona,

Spain [73] Assignee: Jumberca, S. A., Badalona, Spain [22] Filed: Nov.1, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 194,622

Related US. Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 868,046, Oct. 21,1969,

abandoned.

[52] US. Cl 156/50 R [51] Int. Cl. D04b 9/38, D04b 15/68 [58] Field ofSearch 66/50 R, 50 B, 36 A, 36 B, 66/25, 50 A [56] References CitedUNITED STATES PATENTS 3,063,269 11/1962 Losert et a1 66/50 R X 3,577,7495/1971 Wright et a1. 66150 R 3,641,786 2/1972 Burdett et a1. 66/50 B3,646,779 3/1972 Nuber et a1..... 66/25 3,616,654 11/1971 Llinas 66/252,164,118 6/1939 McAdams 66/50 R X mesa 1 Feb. 12, 1974 3,641,787 2/1972Robottom 66/50 R 2,391,665 12/1945 Wildt et a1. 66/25 X FOREIGN PATENTSOR APPLICATIONS 996,291 6/1965 Great Britain 66/50 B 705,358 5/1966Italy 884,114 4/1943 France 66/50 B 1,230,961 12/1966 Germany 66/50 BPrimary Examiner-Wm. Carter Reynolds Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Parrott,Bell, Seltzer, Park & Gibson [57] ABSTRACT A rocking jack patternmechanism for a circular knitting machine in which corresponding pairsof selector jacks and intermediate jacks cooperate in controllingselection of needles to perform knitting operations and in whichcancellation of selection of corresponding pairs of selector andintermediate jacks occurs during the performance of knitting operationsby the corresponding needles and selection of corresponding pairs ofselector and intermediate jacks occurs prior to initiation of the nextsubsequent knitting operation to be performed by the correspondingneedles.

2 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PATENTEU FEB 1 2 1914 sum 2 or 4 IMPROVEDPATTERNING MECHANISM FOR H C CLIL KNITTIEG MACHIN...

This application is a division of copending application Ser. No. 868,046filed Oct. 21, 1969 now U. S. Pat. No. 3,638,456 issued Feb. I, 1972.

The present invention relates to a mechanism for circular knittingmachines which facilitates needle selection and reduces the timerequired for this operation, as well as achieving a minimum of mistakesin positioning in comparison with the systems usually employed. At thesame time this invention introduces improvements in the selectionarrangements for these machines, designed to overcome the obstaclesobserved in knitting machines of this type, due to the fact that byincreasing the number of spaces corresponding to the operative cycles ofthe needles, a notable reduction is caused in the time available withineach space for the selective preparation phase to be performed by thejacks and associated elements, whereby the above preparation ishindered.

The solution of the problem relating to the needle selection is based oncreating an effect directed towards keeping to the selection to beestablished in each case, without altering, thereby, the'space of timerequired by the normal development of the movements of the knittingneedles.

In other known systems, the selection is retained by two or more jacksper needle, operating by lateral thrust. All of this creates factorswhich contribute towards an increase in the height of the mechanism andtowards introducing a larger number of operative members. This newinvention has been created specially to solve the above situation.

These improvements are, characterized by the fact that the selectiveperparation phase for the control of the needle movements is performedthrough one single intermediate jack, situated between the selector jackand the .relative needle, in such a way that the above mentionedselective action is developed, for each operative cycle of the needleunder consideration, within a space inherent in the preceding cycle, insuch a way that'the above mentioned intermediate jack retains theestablished selection in order to transfer it to the needle in its cyclethrough a rocking movement, whereby the selective space is not limitedwithin each cycle and has a sufficiently ample prior area for itsdevelopment, whereby there is a notable reduction in the height of thearea covered by the needle cylinder and the number of members operatingin said area.

Some of the objects and advantages of the invention having been stated,others will appear as the description proceeds, when taken in connectionwith the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal elevation of part of a circular knittingmachine showing an active phase of an intermediate jack arranged betweena selector jack and a needle;

FIG. 2 is a similar view to the previous figure, showing an inactiveperiod of the intermediate jack;

FIG. 3 is a detail relating to the coupling area between theintermediate jacks and the control slots;

FIG. 4 is a front view of a cam area for the situation of theintermediate jacks;

FIG. 5 is a detail showing the cancelling action exerted on theintermediate jacks;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the relationship between the width of onesheet and the range covered by a selector jack tooth over an arc ofcircumference; and

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of the idea of the present invention, on thebasis of achieving a minimum projection in the movement of the tooth ofajack between its limits.

In a circular knitting machine, the essentially operative members arethe needles 1, the jacks 2 and the sheetlike cams 3 for operation of theaforementioned members.

The needles 1, fitted with hook 4 and butt 5 correspond with someintermediate jacks 6 which enter the slot 7 of the sliding member 8 onwhich the butt 5 of the needles 1 rests. The jacks 2 have a rear butt 9on which the intermediate jack 6 is adapted to be at times supported,when positioned as shown in FIG. 2 and a front butt 10 which cooperateswith the cams 3.

Stitch cam means is provided (FIG. 4) for operation of the butts (5) ofthe needles (I) at each knitting station and includes a needle raisingcam 3011 which is movable between the active position illustrated inFIG. 4 and a rearward inactive position so that it does not engage thebutts 5 of the needles 1, and a recessed track 30 for passage of thebutts of the needles.

The cams 3, normally housed in a box for that purpose, are now coveredby a fixed support 11 connected to an angle iron 12, fitted in turn onthe body member 13 with the aid of screws 14 and 28.

The rotary part of the machine comprises the needles 1, jacks 2 andintermediate jacks 6, all arranged in a needle cylinder 16. The cams 3,with their associated members, the body member 13 and the upper upright17, fonn the fixed part of the machine.

Other members shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 include an upper spring band 23 fornormally urging the upper ends of the jacks 2 inwardly and a lowerspring band 24 for pivotally supporting the lower ends of the jacks 2. Arear cover 25 is provided for the sheet-like cam 3. A locking member orlever 20 is supported for oscillation about a screw 21 fixed on support11 and held in adjusted position by a hand operated screw 22.

The construction of the sheet-like cams 3 and the manner ofaccommodating selection of cams for a particular pattern is fullydescribed in related U. S. Pat. No. 3,638,456 referred to hereinabove.For this reason, such disclosure will not be repeated at length in thepresent specificaion.

Basically, each operative cycle of a needle in a circular knittingmachine comprises selection, raising, lowering and cancellation ofselection. Ordinarily, these actions are developed within each cycle,which offers no problem provided that the number of sections in theknitting machine is relatively low. This is explained by the fact thatif the available selection space is sufficiently large, the selection isperformed without causing obstructions.

Nevertheless, when the above number of sections is large, the selectionspace is substantially reduced and this even arrives at a state ofhindering the correct progress of the operations. The selectorarrangement of the present invention is applied as a solution of thisproblem.

The behavior of the selector arrangement is as follows. In an inactivephase, as shown in FIG. 2, the selector jacks 2 are separated from thecams 3 and thus receive no impulse, while the intermediate jacks 6 havetheir rounded corner 29 resting against the cylinder 16 and hold theirtooth 18 outside the slot 7.

Contrarily, as will be seen in FIG. 1, in an active phase, the selectorjacks 2 rock and straighten up the intermediate jacks 6 which move topress against the cylinder 16 at the same time as their tooth l8 entersthe slot 7 to control the needles 1 through their butt 5, and is appliedagainst the upper inclined surface 42 of the cam 8.

Following the course of the intermediate jacks 6 in the slot 7, in thefront view-in FIG. 3, it is seen that during an operative cycle, thesejacks 6 develop a selection preparation phase which comprises space A,an operative phase B and a further non-operative phase C in which thecancellation profile 31 removes it from the slot 7. This cancellationaction is exercised by the thrust that the profile 31 creates againstthe tooth 18 of the jack 6.

The above mentioned selection phase A covers a larger space than thatreserved for one cycle in veiw of the fact that it comprises a zone ofthe previous cycle, whereby the said space allows a suitable developmentof the selective phase.

The function of the head 19 of the jack 2 consists of creating thelateral thrust on the intermediate jack 6 to put it into movement andthat of the butt 9 is based on the fact that its stop limits the descentof the jack 6 so that its tooth 18 faces up to the slot 7.

As indicated in FIG. 6, the cams 3 must have a width D equal to thewidth covered by the tooth 10 of a selector jack 2 when covering itsstroke in an arc of a circumference; it not being suitable that thisvalue D be exceeded so as to occupy the smallest possible space, ratherit is of interest to reduce this value as far as possible, which isprecisely the purpose of this present invention.

To achieve the purpose sought after, arrangements are made for thestroke of a tooth 10 to develop in an arc of a circumference between apreselective rest point P and a selective point S, with the conditionthat the maximum value of the horizontal projection of the above stroke,that is, the part corresponding to the section MN, should fall on avertical axis OR on which the radius OM is included within the strokePS.

Thereby, the width H of the projection is reduced to a minimum valuewhich will be precisely the magnitude of width that a selector cam 3must have to comprise the field of movement of the tooth 10 from point Pto point S.

In the drawings and specification, there has been set forth a preferredembodiment of the invention, and although specific terms are employed,they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not forpurposes of limitation.

That which is claimed is:

1. A circular knitting machine comprising:

a needle cylinder,

a plurality of selector jacks mounted on said needle cylinder and beingpivotally supported at their lower ends, each of said selector jackshaving an upper terminal end movable radially relative to said needlecylinder and a selection butt portion spaced downwardly from said upperterminal end,

selector cam means supported adjacent said cylinder for engaging saidselection butt portions of selected ones of said selector jacks formoving said upper tenninal ends of said selected selector jacks inwardlyof said needle cylinder, plurality of intermediate jacks mounted formovment relative to said needle cylinder and said selector jacks, eachof said intermediate jacks having a lower terminal end and a tooth onits upper terminal end, each of said intermediate jacks being pivotableintermediate its ends and in response to inward movement of acorresponding upper terminal end of a corresponding selector jack formoving said tooth outwardly of said needle cylinder, an annularintermediate cam slot means extending along a path described by saidintermediate jacks for receiving said teeth of those selectedintermediate jacks which correspond to said selected selector jacks andfor displacing said selected intermediate jacks axially of said needlecylinder and relative to corresponding selector jacks, plurality ofneedles mounted on said needle cylinder for movement relative to saidneedle cylinder and said intermediate jacks and said selector jacks andfor performing knitting operations, each of said needles having a lowerterminal end and a butt portion, each of said needles being movableaxially of said needle cylinder in response to axial displacement of acorresponding selected intermediate jack which corresponds to a selectedselector jack, and each of said needles being separable from saidcorresponding intermediate and selector jacks for independent movementaxially of said needle cylinder, an annular stitch cam means extendingalong a path described by said needles for engaging said butts of suchones of said needles as are to perform knitting operations and fordisplacing such ones of said needles axially of said needle cylinder,said stitch cam means having at least one operative zone in whichselected needles perform knitting operations, and

said intermediate cam slot means having at least first, second and thirdzones arranged in predetermined relation to said operative zone of saidstitch cam means, said first zone being a cancellation zone andincluding cam means positioned in said intermediate cam slot means forcanceling selection of corresponding pairs of selector and intermediatejacks by engaging and inwardly moving said teeth of selectedintermediate jacks during the performance of knitting operations by thecorresponding needles, said second zone being a selection zone foraccommodating selection of correspoinding pairs of selector andintermediate jacks by receiving said teeth of selected intermediatejacks prior to initiation of the next subsequent knitting operation tobe performed by the corresponding needles, and said third zone being anoperative zone and including means for displacing selected intermediatejacks axially of said needle cylinder.

2. A knitting machine according to claim 1 wherein said lower end ofeach of said intermediate jacks extends downwardly of said upper end ofthe corresponding one of said selector jacks and along the side of saidselector jack toward which said upper end moves in response toengagement with one of said selector cams.

1. A circular knitting machine comprising: a needle cylinder, aplurality of selector jacks mounted on said needle cylinder and beingpivotally supported at their lower ends, each of said selector jackshaving an upper terminal end movable radially relative to said needlecylinder and a selection butt portion spaced downwardly from said upperterminal end, selector cam means supported adjacent said cylinder forengaging said selection butt portions of selected ones of said selectorjacks for moving said upper terminal ends of said selected selectorjacks inwardly of said needle cylinder, a plurality of intermediatejacks mounted for movment relative to said needle cylinder and saidselector jacks, each of said intermediate jacks having a lower terminalend and a tooth on its upper terminal end, each of said intermediatejacks being pivotable intermediate its ends and in response to inwardmovement of a corresponding upper terminal end of a correspondingselector jack for moving said tooth outwardly of said needle cylinder,an annular intermediate cam slot means extending along a path describedby said intermediate jacks for receiving saiD teeth of those selectedintermediate jacks which correspond to said selected selector jacks andfor displacing said selected intermediate jacks axially of said needlecylinder and relative to corresponding selector jacks, a plurality ofneedles mounted on said needle cylinder for movement relative to saidneedle cylinder and said intermediate jacks and said selector jacks andfor performing knitting operations, each of said needles having a lowerterminal end and a butt portion, each of said needles being movableaxially of said needle cylinder in response to axial displacement of acorresponding selected intermediate jack which corresponds to a selectedselector jack, and each of said needles being separable from saidcorresponding intermediate and selector jacks for independent movementaxially of said needle cylinder, an annular stitch cam means extendingalong a path described by said needles for engaging said butts of suchones of said needles as are to perform knitting operations and fordisplacing such ones of said needles axially of said needle cylinder,said stitch cam means having at least one operative zone in whichselected needles perform knitting operations, and said intermediate camslot means having at least first, second and third zones arranged inpredetermined relation to said operative zone of said stitch cam means,said first zone being a cancellation zone and including cam meanspositioned in said intermediate cam slot means for canceling selectionof corresponding pairs of selector and intermediate jacks by engagingand inwardly moving said teeth of selected intermediate jacks during theperformance of knitting operations by the corresponding needles, saidsecond zone being a selection zone for accommodating selection ofcorrespoinding pairs of selector and intermediate jacks by receivingsaid teeth of selected intermediate jacks prior to initiation of thenext subsequent knitting operation to be performed by the correspondingneedles, and said third zone being an operative zone and including meansfor displacing selected intermediate jacks axially of said needlecylinder.
 2. A knitting machine according to claim 1 wherein said lowerend of each of said intermediate jacks extends downwardly of said upperend of the corresponding one of said selector jacks and along the sideof said selector jack toward which said upper end moves in response toengagement with one of said selector cams.